How much is too much?

[ATMester]

I realized that I shot better, just plain better when my mental game was basically none.

There was only one thing in my mind....just have fun. (<---that's what I had said to myself) good performace just came without efforts.

Now almost a year later, I have spent lots of time with mental conditioning, Lenny Bassham, Saul Kirsch's book. Sport psychology from the US olympic center. Regular excercises etc.

I think mental conditioning just puts pressure on me, and all I see is decrease in performance. I have expectations from myself....

I only talking about match performance here.

Any opinion on this Guys, what are your thoughts?

Edited June 15, 2008 by TheHun

[M ammo]

I see your point.

In the beginning, when we all started. We just did what we could to work our Gun and not miss a target ( get our hits) and complete the stage.

Then we work at getting better. The basics just flow. Your thinking about fast.

Then you get to the point of mind screwing yourself.

I’m their as well, you have company. I’m trying to get past it. And once and a wile I do. So I know I have hope.

I still am working on my fast, I’ll probably never be as fast as the Pro’s

I can shoot every bit as well. Just not as fast.

Kind of a mind game. But also a way to build my confidence.

The target and the timer do not lie.

Look at the cup half full once and a wile.

But I try to learn my lessons, make sure my equipment is up to speed. And work on me.

Having fun is the reason I play this game. If I didn’t have fun, I’d be golfing. OK probably not. Unless it was a golf ball cannon! Tow it from the golf cart. Hey now, that would be fun.

But doing your best letting yourself go with the force as you might put it. You know what to do. You just have to do it.

You know when you have a good stage. No mater what place you come in at the end of the day.

Take that moment to give yourself a little that a boy and enjoy it.

Enjoy your best.

[Jake Di Vita]

If you are unsatisfied with your mental game, take up golf....that'll improve it better than just about anything out there.

[JThompson]

Where does this occur? Are you guys in the A/M area or what. It seems like the guys that put the most pressure are those going from A to M or M to GM. It's that point at which you really have to have all aspects down to make it and I think it just loads you up with clutter. This is all conjecture on my part since I'm only a lowly B.

I think this is a great topic and I would like to read everyone's responses to this. It might become one of the best threads we've had in some time.

JT

Edited June 15, 2008 by JThompson

[Jake Di Vita]

The mental game is an issue for shooters of all skill levels. It's where consistency stems from.

[AlamoShooter]

A whole year ? sorry just picking on ya .....some day you will see the funny side of that comment.

Expectations can be a very big and hard wall to push past. Shooting and making good shots does not include expectations.

But I don't know ...much

I can stay at home and ..Have Fun Shooting good is fun, making good shots is fun,

Spending every tenth of a second to impove the stage .....Is Fun

Edited June 15, 2008 by AlamoShooter

[Flyin40]

I realized that I shot better, just plain better when my mental game was basically none.

There was only one thing in my mind....just have fun. (<---that's what I had said to myself) good performace just came without efforts.

Now almost a year later, I have spent lots of time with mental conditioning, Lenny Bassham, Saul Kirsch's book. Sport psychology from the US olympic center. Regular excercises etc.

I think mental conditioning just puts pressure on me, and all I see is decrease in performance. I have expectations from myself....

I only talking about match performance here.

Any opinion on this Guys, what are your thoughts?

I guess my question would be how do you approach the mental game??? What are you working on??

What do you mean by "I have expectations from myself"?? To me this implies you placing pressure on yourself immediately. So what goes through your mind if you don't meet your expectations?? What do you tell yourself??

Flyin

[Micah]

Now almost a year later, I have spent lots of time with mental conditioning, Lenny Bassham, Saul Kirsch's book. Sport psychology from the US olympic center. Regular excercises etc.

I think mental conditioning just puts pressure on me, and all I see is decrease in performance. I have expectations from myself....

Without having a plan as to how to shoot a complex stage, you are burning the clock trying to find targets and strategies. I don't find this fun, nor rewarding.

You have been reading the best books on the subject, but are you practicing them? Staying positive throughout the match is paramount! Once you have a stage worked out, play it back in your mind several (or me: many) times. See the two perfect alphas on each target, and allow yourself to feel the excitement of shooting that stage amazingly well. Add the positive emotion to your visualizations, and you will never burn out on having a great plan.

[boo radley]

Great question

No doubt perspectives will vary based on age, experience, ability and goals and ego. There's also component for some adherents to mental management 'systems' that's religous or devotional in that:

1) XYZ system works for me.

2) If XYZ system isn't working for me, it's because I'm not working it hard enough.

How much is too much? Only you have the answer, and maybe it's not a simple answer, and maybe the answer will be different in six months or five years. Perhaps you've already had so much mental management you're irreversibly poisoned, and wiill never shoot well again, or maybe just the opposite, and you'll need five years of professional help. <grin>

I had two random thoughts when thinking about this. First, we're mentally tough in so many areas in life. We're challenged by our jobs, by sickness and tragedy; making a marriage or family work...perhaps coping with addictions and vices and human weaknesses -- whatever. Why, with a USPSA/IPSC/IDPA match are we suddenly so mentally fragile?

Second, I'm reminded of something ZHunter said in a thread a while back. He is one of the very few here that made a living playing professional sports; specifically golf. IIRC, he said something along the lines of, "successful players bring as little mental baggage as possible -- either positive or negative, and focus soley on execution." Perhaps that explains why so many Tour players look like zombies, and play with zero demonstrable emotion. (That said, there are those, like Mr. Woods, who break the rule).

Dunno.

[Jake Di Vita]

Staying positive throughout the match is paramount!

I've been thinking that staying positive through the match isn't nearly as important (and potentially detrimental if you let it cloud your judgment) as learning to stay "in the moment." Being able to devote ALL of your attention to the task at hand in spite of any distractions (ego, blown stage, family problems, gun problems, expectations, etc...) is what makes someone mentally strong when it comes to sports and competitive application.

What staying positive tends to correct for most people is getting that blown stage out of their head. While this is definitely important, it is only a small piece of what's required for a consistent and well-developed mental game. If staying positive is what works for you - great. For myself, staying impartial and observing are the keys to consistent performance.

Do I get pissed off when I blow a stage? Absolutely. Not letting it effect your next stage (or shot, or hole, or catch, etc...) is what really matters. Once you can do that, you'll find that staying positive, while helpful in some cases, isn't really necessary anymore.

[Flexmoney]

I don't know anybody...at any level...that can afford to "call it in" when there is true competition present (I don't mean that in a lazy way).

Competitors need their mental energy focused on the task at hand. On the execution. (This isn't a conscious thought vs sub-conscious thought issue. That is a separate issues that needs addressed...making the skills automatic.)

Any competitor that is focused on the outcome/results is using up mental energy. The strongest resources we have might just be our mental resources. Can we afford to have them diverted from the immediate goal?

Execute. Execute. Execute.

Whether the skills are there or not, the best mental thought that I have come up with is "just shoot".

[benos]

"Mental conditioning" is only necessary until you figure out how to have fun and just go shoot.

be

[murkish]

"Mental conditioning" is only necessary until you figure out how to have fun and just go shoot.

be

I think we start off knowing how to "have fun and just go shoot," but then we clutter our minds up with a bunch of other stuff (competing, expectations, etc.) and ultimately it gets lost. Think about the first time you shot an aluminum can with a bb gun.

We limit ourselves with all of this other stuff.

[Paul Santiago]

Think about the first time you shot an aluminum can with a bb gun.

I still do that in my backyard. relaxing time

[Chris iliff]

Now almost a year later, I have spent lots of time with mental conditioning, Lenny Bassham, Saul Kirsch's book. Sport psychology from the US olympic center. Regular excercises etc.

I think mental conditioning just puts pressure on me, and all I see is decrease in performance. I have expectations from myself....

Without having a plan as to how to shoot a complex stage, you are burning the clock trying to find targets and strategies. I don't find this fun, nor rewarding.

You have been reading the best books on the subject, but are you practicing them? Staying positive throughout the match is paramount! Once you have a stage worked out, play it back in your mind several (or me: many) times. See the two perfect alphas on each target, and allow yourself to feel the excitement of shooting that stage amazingly well. Add the positive emotion to your visualizations, and you will never burn out on having a great plan.

+1, I do what you say and it works. I may be a lowly "C", but I shoot above my classification most matches. Just got second "C" open at Area 5 and shot into the 60 percentage range.

[kurtm]

Ozzy Osborn said it best when he sang.."The road to nowhere leads to me!" I have been very fortunate in the fact that the very first 3-gun match I ever shot was the only time I have ever been out of the top ten (26th) at any match I have shot since. I was stuck around 4th-6th from 96 untill 2001. I went to a very large 3-gun match in Arizona in 2001 ABSOLUTELY unprepared, I had worked for 3 month straight and hadn't even touched a gun. I knew there was no way I would ever even place in the top ten, so I just enjoyed seeing folks I only get to see 2-3 times a year, I drank WAY too much and had a great time. When the finals were posted I had won Tactical. After that I just never even bothered to check the score board except at the end to make sure my yellow sheets matched what the score people had. "The wreckage of your past" (Ozzy again)will keep haunting you untill you just let it go!! YES I hate droping a stage, but the beer is still cold and the dinners with Benny, Merlin Larry, Trapr, My brother,Hung Dang, Mike Pinto, Javier Martinez, Glen Harrison......and a host of others is what this whole thing is about. YES!! I like to shoot well, But if I don't LIFE IS STILL GOOD!!!! LET IT GO!!!! KurtM